Our 17-year-old son has just entered into his first 'serious' relationship.' He had a girlfriend a few years back, but she was a contender for the reality show Real Housewives of Bergheim, in that she acted like a diva, demanding 100% of his time, attention, and discretionary spending. That experience convinced him that casual dating was the way to go.
At least until recently.
We first learned about his new girlfriend from - what else - Facebook, when his status changed from Single to In A Relationship. (Yes, we made him friend us.) That prompted a flurry of posts from his real friends, which gave us more intel than we ever got from him.
She joined us for dinner the other night. She's a very sweet girl - attractive, smart (early acceptance to Texas A&M, with acceptance decisions pending at Rice and Boston College), good work ethic (rancher's daughter, has a job working at a fashion boutique in town), simple tastes (just about every other one of their dates is a walk in the woods followed by a picnic alongside the creek) ... just about everything a parent could want in a girlfriend for their son.
She's been an excellent influence on him. He is paying more attention to clothes and hygiene than I ever thought possible. He even asked for an electric razor for Christmas, which is a massive case of overkill (he could be clean-shaven just by scrubbing his face with a rough washcloth once a week). It would be an ideal match, except for one thing.
She's a high school senior, and he's only a junior.
That means next September she'll go off to college, get swept off her feet by some frat boy, and that'll be the end of the boy back home.
I can see it coming, but there's nothing I can do about it.
Oh well, it's all part of growing up...
Sammiches.
8 hours ago
6 comments:
In defense of smart women - we rarely get swept off our feet by frat boys.
It is surreal and painful, to be a parent and know that there is a broken heart coming, and not be able to do or say a damn thing to stop it.
Sounds like a cool, down-to-earth girl that your boy has. Since I'm very anti-frat boy, I'll hope for you that she'll stick around next year.
Of course, the occasional broken heart is, in hindsight, a very good learning process and rather helpful in the maturation process.
My little brother's in the opposite situation... he's off at college and his girl is at home. They're still together, although I'll admit that surprises me.
I've seen some of the girls where he goes to school and am frankly amazed that he's remained faithful.
I try to hold him to that standard and hopefully he doesn't screw around on her, but our older brother's not such a good influence. Prior to getting married, he always managed to bed down anything with a slim figure and a vagina, regardless of his relationship status. Of course, that was pre-Facebook, so it was eaiser to get away with then.
Harper, you're right. I should give her more credit than that. Still, the frat boy thing was just a bit of poetic license to highlight the inevitability of heartbreak down the road. But, as Bear pointed out, it's part of the growing process.
It could be worse. I married my high-school sweetheart. That, too, was a learning experience, although NOT one I'd like to repeat...
I married my high-school sweetheart. That, too, was a learning experience, although NOT one I'd like to repeat...
Ditto...
You're right. Nuttin' you can do. When we were that age, nuttin' our parents said about such things mattered. Things will just have to play themselves out.
"It could be worse. I married my high-school sweetheart. That, too, was a learning experience, although NOT one I'd like to repeat..."
I'll third that emotion!
Not to worry, tradional marriage will soon be totally passe in favor of "non- committial partnerships".
The Liberal crowd will be happy with that since these partnerships could be between:
1) Two males
2) Two females
3) Two men and a female
4) A male and his dog.
5) An entire housing project.
6) A serving president and Bernie Frank
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